As the Sea Flows Red
by LunaOfTheEclipse
Summary: This takes us into the past where a rag-tag group of adventures run into some trouble with the notorious Blood Sail Buccaneers. When one of them is captured, the group must try to rescue their leader, Chelkario 'Chel' Smith. AN: WotLK was released in November 2008, this takes place roughly two months before the coming of the Scourge when TBC has come to an end.


CHAPTER I: The Beginning

"So passed the seasons then,

So they pass now,

And so they will pass in time to come,

While we come and go like leaves of the tree

That fall and are soon forgotten."

Howard Pyle, _The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood_

* * *

It was humid on this September afternoon in Booty Bay, it was so hot outside that the little ocean breeze that was given felt like cold water during the deepest summer's drought. Only a few people, excluding the goblins that ran the town, scurried about the docks. The people that did make up this town were as follows; about seventy percent goblins, which includes shop keepers, guards, and town officials. The remaining thirty percent are adventurers from the Horde and the Alliance, other traders and pirates. Dirty stinking pirates.

Pirates are very vicious in their work, more especially the Blood Sail Buccaneers. They were very tricky people when it came to a barter, call yourself a wise man if you never made a trade with one, these greedy bastards always had something up their sleeves, they'd give you a nice smile and some free bait, but the next bite taken out of that fishing hook would be the one that would pull some poor bastard to the surface and get his head cut off. Fortunately, the goblins didn't take to kindly to the Blood Sails, however that didn't stop them from hiding their true selves to get a drink or two from the tavern there. So the pirates were always frequent at the bar, but someone looking for them wouldn't need to tip over every stone to find them, now would they? That was the only flaw.

A troop of five, looking no more than the age of twenty but no less than the age of sixteen, approached the entrance to Booty Bay's tavern. Although they did not have any sort of uniform that flat out said that they were together, just by the way that they were walking so close to each other, made it clear. Their gear wasn't anything special; they looked like a couple of rag-tag adventurers starting out in this crazy world. The boy who looked the oldest stopped abruptly as the tavern was just twenty feet away from them. He looked back at the remaining four.

"Alright, guys," He said leaning in, taking the sucker out of his mouth to speak "I'll go in first, then when I say the signal, Gazmani," His dark intelligent eyes fell on a elvish girl, her purple stained goggles covering her eyes "You'll throw in those smoke bombs of yours, then James, Beni and I will head up stairs and Beni," The group's arms were linked together over their shoulders, listening to the boy talk to them. "You'll signal your hawk to come in and watch the door when we make it to the second floor. Got it?" All of them nodded except for one.

"What about me, Jack?" She asked, her face in a frown "You always leave me out of these things-"

"That's because you're the youngest." He cut her off but before he could say anything else, the miserable look on her face made him have a change of heart "Alright, you know what? You'll follow behind me after I give the signal, okay?"

"What's the signal again?" Gazmani perked her ears up.

"When I say 'This mead taste like dirt' that's when you throw the bombs in, got it?" She nodded to Jack, who then paused looking at the floor, slowly nodding his head "Alright guys, this is the day that we get my sister back from those rotten toothed pirates… A leader must be up on the second floor somewhere and when we find him, we'll take him to our hide out and beat him black and blue until he tells us where Chelkario is." The then looked at all four before giving a single nod, breaking away from the circle. As he made it to the door, he looked back at his friends, popping the sucker back in his mouth. With a reassuring smile, he ducked into the tavern.

The inside was musty smelling and looking, as Jack looked around he saw what he wanted, it was actually very easy to see through the disguises that the Blood Sails wore. They looked almost too normal to be in a tavern down south. He sat down at the bar and waited a couple moments as he rested his arms over the counter. Just then a woman sat next to him, she had long blond hair that reached her mid back. Her silvery eyes were fixed on him.

"Hi," She said in a calm voice despite the rowdy nature of their surroundings. She was very short and kind struggled a little bit to get up on the stool to sit next to him "Y'know, you look a little… young to be in this place, kid." She said calmly, waving at the bartender who shortly after sent two rounds sliding to her hands. She passed one to Jack, who tried desperately to hide his nerves and fear.

"You look a little short to even be at the bar, miss." He manages to say without it sounding shaky. She laughed at his comment; he guessed she was just used to those by now. Her small hand rose to tuck some loose hair behind her ears.

"You look awfully familiar, kid. Otherwise I wouldn't have approached you, y'know." She took a drink from her mead; her somberness was almost eerie to him.

"Who do you suppose I'm familiar to then, perhaps someone in a dream? I've been told that my looks resembled an angel, before." Flirting, he wanted to kick himself for his own defense mechanism.

"Not quite," She smiled with a quirked brow "A few days ago there was this girl we took in." This time as she took a sip from her mead, her silvery eyes fixed on him like a cat ready to pounce. Jack leaned off of the counter to look back at her, trying to keep his posture, his hand on his knee.

"A colleague, I can only assume?" He asked an empty question. He already knew the answer and that this woman who had approached him knew who he was and was trying to get him to crack. Trying to get him so that he would be captured like his sister, he had to get the signal out soon… He thought only after he got some useful information from this woman, first.

"Some girl who though it would be wise to double cross a Blood Sail. She stole something very important to us, you see."

"She did? Steeling is very wrong, although I suppose karma plays a part on piracy as well, yes?" He asked, smiling politely. A flash of anger wiped across her eyes but then she laughed it off, trying to keep her cool just as Jack was.

"My name is Captain Sage Claymoore, but only to my unders. You however, can call me Sage." She held out her small hand, a welcoming gesture. Jack was smart though, he knew that all pirates acted like the innocent flower but were the venomous serpents under it. He looked down at her hand for a moment, but then looked up to her to smile.

"I'm Jack." He said when she coldly withdrew her kind gesture, he then readjusted himself "So, then tell me. What did this girl steal from you?"

"Something that we had from a raid in late summer," She said taking another sip from her drink "It was a map, you see."

"A treasure map?" he asked and Sage grinned as if it was a stupid question.

"Something like that." Jack realized that at this point, it was a game of cat and mouse with this woman. But she was Captain, he could be the one that they needed. He smiled sweetly, taking a sip from his mead… and then, he looked at her, still smiling as he put it down.

"This mead taste like dirt." He said as loudly as he could.


End file.
